OUR AMAZING EXISTENCE.
In my previous blog I explained just how precarious life is; now I would like to show just how amazing it is that the universe even exists, let alone that it supports life. According to growing numbers of scientists, the laws and constants of nature are so finely tuned, and so many coincidences have occurred to allow for the possibility of life, that the universe must have come into existence through intentional planning and intelligence. In "The Anthropic Principle," (a documentary film) scientists contended that it appears the universe was brought into existence intentionally for the sake of producing sentient life. Even those who do not accept the Anthropic Principle admit to the fine-tuning and conclude that the universe is too contrived to be a chance event. Discussions have even extended to whether the universe is subjective or objective, in other words can it exist on its own or does it only exist because we believe it exists?
Albert Einstein wrote in his book "The World As I See It" that the harmony of natural law "Reveals an intelligence of such superiority that, compared with it, all the systematic thinking and acting of human beings is an utterly insignificant reflection."
Professor John Wheeler, former Chair of the Physics Department at the University of Texas at Austin, formerly a colleague of Albert Einstein and Neils Bohr, and considered one of the foremost contemporary thinkers in theoretical physics and cosmology, had this to say (from a PBS science documentary, "The Creation of The Universe"): "To my mind, there must be at the bottom of it all, not an utterly simple equation, but an utterly simple IDEA. And to me that idea, when we finally discover it, will be so compelling, and so inevitable, so beautiful, we will all say to each other, 'How could it have ever been otherwise?'"
Dr. Dennis Scania, the distinguished head of Cambridge University Observatories: "If you change a little bit the laws of nature, or you change a little bit the constants of nature – like the charge on the electron -- then the way the universe develops is so changed, it is very likely that intelligent life would not have been able to develop."
Dr. David D. Deutsch, Institute of Mathematics, at Oxford University: "If we nudge one of these constants just a few percent in one direction, stars burn out within a million years of their formation, and there is no time for evolution. If we nudge it a few percent in the other direction, then no elements heavier than helium form. No carbon, no life. Not even any chemistry. No complexity at all."
Dr. Paul Davies, noted author and professor of theoretical physics at Newcastle University: "The really amazing thing is not that life on Earth is balanced on a knife-edge, but that the entire universe is balanced on a knife-edge, and would be total chaos if any of the natural 'constants' were off even slightly. You see," Davies, adds, "even if you dismiss man as a chance happening, the fact remains that the universe seems unreasonably suited to the existence of life – almost contrived -- you might say a 'put-up job.'"
The August '97 issue of "Science" (the most prestigious peer-reviewed scientific journal in the United States) featured an article entitled "Science and G-d: A Warming Trend?" Here is an excerpt: "The fact that the universe exhibits many features that foster organic life -- such as precisely those physical constants that result in planets and long-lived stars -- also has led some scientists to speculate that some divine influence may be present."
In his best-selling book, A Brief History of Time, Stephen Hawking (world famous cosmologist) refers to the phenomenon as "remarkable." "The remarkable fact is that the values of these numbers (i.e. the constants of physics) seem to have been very finely adjusted to make possible the development of life" (p. 125).
Professor Steven Weinberg, Nobel laureate, high-energy physicist (a field of science that deals with the very early universe), in the journal Scientific American, reflects on "how surprising it is that the laws of nature and the initial conditions of the universe should allow for the existence of beings who could observe it. Life as we know it would be impossible if any one of several physical quantities had slightly different values."
Michael Turner, the widely quoted astrophysicist at the University of Chicago and Fermilab, describes the fine-tuning of the universe with a simile: "The precision is as if one could throw a dart across the entire universe and hit a bull’s-eye one millimetre in diameter on the other side."
Roger Penrose, the Rouse Ball Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford, discovers that the likelihood of the universe having usable energy (low entropy) at the creation is even more astounding, "namely, an accuracy of one part out of ten to the power of ten to the power of 123. This is an extraordinary figure. One could not possibly even write the number down in full, in our ordinary denary (power of ten) notation: it would be one followed by ten to the power of 123 successive zeros!" That is a million billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion zeros.
Dr. Gerald Shroeder holds a PhD in two fields: Earth and Planetary Sciences, and Nuclear Physics. He spent seven years on the staff of the M.I.T. Physics Department prior to moving to Israel and joining the staff of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. He has authored approximately 60 publications in peer-reviewed scientific journals. The results of his research have been reported in Time and Newsweek, Scientific American, and newspapers from Boston to Adelaide. In his capacity as consultant to the U.S.-U.S.S.R. Nuclear Arms-Control Treaty, Dr. Shroeder witnessed the detonation of six atomic bombs. He has served as consultant to agencies in governments of USA, Peoples Republic of China, Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Canada. Dr. Shroeder is the author of “Genesis and the Big Bang”, published by Bantam Doubleday, now in six languages; and “The Science Of God”, published by Free Press of Simon & Schuster. His books explain why it is impossible for random mutations on the genome to explain the variety of life on Earth today. The proof is too long to incorporate in a Blog but is well worth reading, I thoroughly recommend his books.
Timothy Ferris (author of The Red Limit - The Search for the Edge of the Universe, Bantam, 1981) wrote, produced and narrated a PBS science special: "The Creation of the Universe" states, "Religion and science are sometimes depicted as if they were opponents, but science owes a lot to religion. Modern science began with the rediscovery, in the Renaissance, of the old Greek idea that nature is rationally intelligible. But science from the beginning incorporated another idea, equally important, that the universe really is a universe, a single system ruled by a single set of laws and science got that idea from the belief in one God...
Coming next; creation or evolution is there really an insurmountable chasm?
_________________________________________
Don’t forget to visit my website, if you have a comment go to the forum, or to find out more buy my latest book.
Albert Einstein wrote in his book "The World As I See It" that the harmony of natural law "Reveals an intelligence of such superiority that, compared with it, all the systematic thinking and acting of human beings is an utterly insignificant reflection."
Professor John Wheeler, former Chair of the Physics Department at the University of Texas at Austin, formerly a colleague of Albert Einstein and Neils Bohr, and considered one of the foremost contemporary thinkers in theoretical physics and cosmology, had this to say (from a PBS science documentary, "The Creation of The Universe"): "To my mind, there must be at the bottom of it all, not an utterly simple equation, but an utterly simple IDEA. And to me that idea, when we finally discover it, will be so compelling, and so inevitable, so beautiful, we will all say to each other, 'How could it have ever been otherwise?'"
Dr. Dennis Scania, the distinguished head of Cambridge University Observatories: "If you change a little bit the laws of nature, or you change a little bit the constants of nature – like the charge on the electron -- then the way the universe develops is so changed, it is very likely that intelligent life would not have been able to develop."
Dr. David D. Deutsch, Institute of Mathematics, at Oxford University: "If we nudge one of these constants just a few percent in one direction, stars burn out within a million years of their formation, and there is no time for evolution. If we nudge it a few percent in the other direction, then no elements heavier than helium form. No carbon, no life. Not even any chemistry. No complexity at all."
Dr. Paul Davies, noted author and professor of theoretical physics at Newcastle University: "The really amazing thing is not that life on Earth is balanced on a knife-edge, but that the entire universe is balanced on a knife-edge, and would be total chaos if any of the natural 'constants' were off even slightly. You see," Davies, adds, "even if you dismiss man as a chance happening, the fact remains that the universe seems unreasonably suited to the existence of life – almost contrived -- you might say a 'put-up job.'"
The August '97 issue of "Science" (the most prestigious peer-reviewed scientific journal in the United States) featured an article entitled "Science and G-d: A Warming Trend?" Here is an excerpt: "The fact that the universe exhibits many features that foster organic life -- such as precisely those physical constants that result in planets and long-lived stars -- also has led some scientists to speculate that some divine influence may be present."
In his best-selling book, A Brief History of Time, Stephen Hawking (world famous cosmologist) refers to the phenomenon as "remarkable." "The remarkable fact is that the values of these numbers (i.e. the constants of physics) seem to have been very finely adjusted to make possible the development of life" (p. 125).
Professor Steven Weinberg, Nobel laureate, high-energy physicist (a field of science that deals with the very early universe), in the journal Scientific American, reflects on "how surprising it is that the laws of nature and the initial conditions of the universe should allow for the existence of beings who could observe it. Life as we know it would be impossible if any one of several physical quantities had slightly different values."
Michael Turner, the widely quoted astrophysicist at the University of Chicago and Fermilab, describes the fine-tuning of the universe with a simile: "The precision is as if one could throw a dart across the entire universe and hit a bull’s-eye one millimetre in diameter on the other side."
Roger Penrose, the Rouse Ball Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford, discovers that the likelihood of the universe having usable energy (low entropy) at the creation is even more astounding, "namely, an accuracy of one part out of ten to the power of ten to the power of 123. This is an extraordinary figure. One could not possibly even write the number down in full, in our ordinary denary (power of ten) notation: it would be one followed by ten to the power of 123 successive zeros!" That is a million billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion zeros.
Dr. Gerald Shroeder holds a PhD in two fields: Earth and Planetary Sciences, and Nuclear Physics. He spent seven years on the staff of the M.I.T. Physics Department prior to moving to Israel and joining the staff of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. He has authored approximately 60 publications in peer-reviewed scientific journals. The results of his research have been reported in Time and Newsweek, Scientific American, and newspapers from Boston to Adelaide. In his capacity as consultant to the U.S.-U.S.S.R. Nuclear Arms-Control Treaty, Dr. Shroeder witnessed the detonation of six atomic bombs. He has served as consultant to agencies in governments of USA, Peoples Republic of China, Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Canada. Dr. Shroeder is the author of “Genesis and the Big Bang”, published by Bantam Doubleday, now in six languages; and “The Science Of God”, published by Free Press of Simon & Schuster. His books explain why it is impossible for random mutations on the genome to explain the variety of life on Earth today. The proof is too long to incorporate in a Blog but is well worth reading, I thoroughly recommend his books.
Timothy Ferris (author of The Red Limit - The Search for the Edge of the Universe, Bantam, 1981) wrote, produced and narrated a PBS science special: "The Creation of the Universe" states, "Religion and science are sometimes depicted as if they were opponents, but science owes a lot to religion. Modern science began with the rediscovery, in the Renaissance, of the old Greek idea that nature is rationally intelligible. But science from the beginning incorporated another idea, equally important, that the universe really is a universe, a single system ruled by a single set of laws and science got that idea from the belief in one God...
Coming next; creation or evolution is there really an insurmountable chasm?
_________________________________________
Don’t forget to visit my website, if you have a comment go to the forum, or to find out more buy my latest book.
Comments